


Once more, With Feeling

by William_Magnus



Series: Once More with Feeling [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Crack, Forgive Me, Inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), Inspired by Music, Music, No Demon Sweet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-01-21 16:34:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12461643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/William_Magnus/pseuds/William_Magnus
Summary: I had the random idea and put it out there cause I don't need yet another story I will likely never finish....and then could not stop myself from writing it anyway.Someone brought a cursed object into Hogwarts during Harry's third year and now everyone is singing.Re-reading Prisoner of Azkaban and inserting musical bits and maybe scenes with discussions about the singing as I get to points where I feel they fit.  Will probably start to veer off from cannon events as things go on...if I get that far.





	1. Overture

"Speaking"  
~Singing~  
/Parseltounge/

 

He knew he should probably not do it but he could not belive it would really be so bad. His father had a large number of cursed things that allwere so so much worse. This one, it did not seem so bad. Unlike the others that did thigns that did not seem that bad but lead to horrible consequinces this one did not have any warnings or anything about death or horror. It did warn of exposing people to things about themselves they did not want to know and self deception but...that did not seem so bad. It was not threatening to expose secrets to other people just...to themselves. That and it honestly sounded like fun, even if it might be a little emberaassing if he got caught up in it, and not that bad at all. After the last few years...and given what happened this summer the insanity that is bound to surround the school this year everyone needs something to cause a little fun...right? Vince agreed with him when he brought up the idea, and even with them not telling anyone, even Malfoy, just in case. This year was going to be a lot better than the last couple, differently.


	2. Catharsis through Moksha

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moksha is a term in Hinduism and Hindu philosophy which refers to various forms of emancipation, liberation, and release.
> 
> Catharsis is the purification and purging of emotions—particularly pity and fear—through art or any extreme change in emotion that results in renewal and restoration.
> 
> Lithium salts have proven to be useful as a mood-stabilizing drug in the treatment of major depressive disorder that does not improve following the use of other antidepressants, and bipolar disorder in humans.
> 
> Harry is touched by the curse long before anyone else because....well that's just his luck.

Like most things around him seemed too it all started without any explanation. The curse already spreading to anyone connected to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry struck first with Harry Potter even before the school year started. It was not, no matter how much one might assume, the worst night of his life but was close to it. He had gotten so angry and before he could even try and calm himself down he had made Aunt Marge start to inflate and float away. 

He was on the run now. The Ministry had probably already issued the order to have him expelled. There was no way he was going to let them snap his wand though. He could live on the run, it couldn't be too hard. He had managed to live with the Dursley's for 12 years or so after all.

Dragging his school chest along behind him as he tried to put as much distance between himself and number 4 Privet Drive as he could he did not notice anything strange at first. As he moved farther away though he could feel...something. Like a pressure bubbling up inside of him, his emotions bubbling near the surface made him feel almost like he was going to burst right up until he started to hallucinate hearing music and...he did burst.

~I'm so happy because today, I've found my friends, They're in my head.~ What was going on? What was happening..he was..singing? ~I'm so ugly, but that's okay, 'cause so are you, We've broken our mirrors.~ The music he heard was so...happy and light but the words were the kind of thing that he felt so often but never told anyone. ~Sunday morning is everyday for all I care, And I'm not scared, Light my candles in a daze, 'Cause I've found god!~ It...it was like the music had been meant for him. Made to seem bright and good and happy but inside nothing but the worst of things that anyone could see, or in this case hear, if they only tried. ~Hey, hey, hey~

Harry lost himself in the song. He stopped caring that he had no control over his words, or even his actions as he went back and forth between happily singing to the bright orchestral music and angrily yelling the refrains finally ending the song. ~I like it, I'm not gonna crack, I miss you, I'm not gonna crack, I love you, I'm not gonna crack, I killed you, I'm not gonna crack!!~

The end of it had him all but screaming that he was not going to crack into the street till he saw it. It was a huge black dog. It had to be a dog because horses did not growl, and no wolf would be half as frightening as the thing starting to advance on him from the bushes across the street. Harry was already pulling his wand to defend himself, no use caring about underage magic if he was going to be kicked out of Hogwarts anyway, when he tripped over his school trunk and suddenly there was a large bang and a flash of light.

Looking up from the ground at the man getting out of the very strange purple buss Harry, still somewhat shaken, looked around and spoke before the man could even get a chance to ask him what he was doing on the ground. "Did...did anything really strange happen with you too just now?"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was later and Harry still had no idea what was going on. Stan and Ernie didn't have any strange music or singing on the Knight Buss, and for some reason Tom and Minister Fudge shared an odd look over his head when Harry asked about people breaking into song like he had. Whatever that look was about he was glad he did not tell them what happened but remembering reading about something like it and not remember where. At least now he knew he was not getting kicked out of school, or even getting into any trouble and he had a room at the Leaky Cauldron for the next few weeks till school. Parts of the song he heard though, they haunted him in an odd way. The whole thing worried him but at the same time he wished he could heard more music like it even as he found himself singing parts of it again to his owl softly.

~I'm so lonely but that's okay I shaved my head, And I'm not sad, And just maybe I'm to blame for all I've heard, But I'm not sure, I'm so excited, I can't wait to meet you there, But I don't care...~

“It’s been a very weird night, Hedwig,” he yawned.

And without even removing his glasses, he slumped back onto his pillows and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit, I was listening to the Polyphonic Spree version of Lithium when I wrote this bit.
> 
> I go and listen to the songs I use as I write each bit, mostly so I can have the whole feeling of the music going on while I write. Harry is going to be both a little disappointed and excited when he gets himself a copy of Nevermind, and listen to it over and over and over again...and will probably shit a brick as an adult when the Polyphonic Spree release a cover that matches the version he sang.


	3. Coming Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Many Witches and Wizards feel the same thing every time that they see Hogwarts.

Harry had not forgotten all about the weird bout of singing over his three weeks in Diagon Alley. He had put it out of his mind, mostly, exploring the alley and for the first time getting to actually do his summer homework. He had picked up a few books on Musical Magic and a history book on strange occurrences that had a few similar events but nothing that was quite like it.

He had not yet decided if he would tell even his friends or not about it by the time he boarded the Hogwarts Express. In the end, he had decided, it was probably just another bit of accidental magic or something like that. The sleeping Professor Lupin and the eventual attack by Dementors had made him all but forget about it, that was, until he arrived at Hogwarts. He was thinking about just how much it felt like what he assumed coming home felt like to other students, and watching the little firsties getting ushered onto boats when he started walking towards the carriages and someone started to sing. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luna was different, she knew it and so did anyone else that knew her. The thing was, she loved her differences. They made her special. They also let her feel, and know things other people never understood. She could feel the magic wrap around her before the music started, and even feel that whatever it was that was wrapping around every single student getting off the train it had already taken a hold of Harry Potter first. She had opened her mouth to say something, maybe assure him nothing was wrong or that whatever was happening was not his fault, instead she started to sing.

~In the velvet darkness, Of the blackest night, Burning bright, there's a guiding star, No matter what, or who you are!~

That was, strange. It was her voice but she had no control of it. Nor of her own footsteps either it seemed as she started to stride towards the carriages waiting to take them up to the school skipping right past saying hello to the Thesterals that were harnessed to pull them.

That was the point other voices joined into the song, it was like the whole school was singing the odd song.

~There's a light, (Over at the Frankenstein Place),There's a light, (Burning in the fireplace), There's a light, light In the darkness of everybody's life!~

The First Years were already in the boats and starting along when the singing started. Hagrid was not sure what was going on, but was fairly impressed as it was all timed so that the mention of a guiding star happened as the kiddies all got their first glimpse of Hogwarts. He was just thinking of what nice thing he was going to find to do for little Luna Lovegood for that as the First Years started to sing as well...and were starting to look worried about it as if they were not in control of their singing. He was just about to speak up and say something when his own voice sang out clear and loud enough he was sure that even the Professors at the school would likely hear him.

~The darkness must go, Down the river of night's dreaming, Flow Morpheus slow, Let the sun and light come streaming, Into my life, into my life!~

The song went on as he ushered the first years up to the castle. What he did not see, but heard of later, was the older years all singing along filling into the main hall walking in perfect sync even doing a spin in the middle of the last refrain gesturing at the main table dramatically and eventually sitting all at the same time at the instant his use of the great door knockers rang out through the school. A wave of whispers and everyone speaking to each other about what happened washed over the school as Hagrid handed off the First years to Professor McGonagall and slipped off to a hidden area for a wee nip of something stronger than he would be served in the opening feast to steady himself after the very odd musical interlude that would prove to be a sign of things to come for the next year.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While he and Hermione were leaving Professor McGonagall's office he could hear Madam Pomfrey stop her and cold almost hear the small smile in her voice. "So, do you think it was him?"

"Hmm, it was more his style than...any others we have had in my years teaching here but...He swears he had nothing to do with it. For now we are chalking it up to a harmless prank but keeping an eye out just in case it...is something more."

Harry was unable to linger long enough just around the corner to hear anything else with Hermione dragging him along and going on about missing the sorting. It was not like it was that important, he would learn of any interesting new Gryffindors later anyway, and now he had to wonder just who the Professor and Madam Pomfrey were talking about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We all know that Sirius at some point drug the Marauders out to see Rocky Horror, and that he of course dressed as Frank N Furter. My guess is Remus went as Brad, James went as Rocky, Peter was Eddie, and Lilly wanted nothing to do with it at all...up until Alice and Frank convinced her that they could get some great photos of the whole mess.


	4. New Classes, and Personality Clashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I played around a bit with order of events in the first week of classes because I wanted a few others to get caught up in whats going on before I unleashed a singing dancing Snape.
> 
> Sybill seemed like the type to be a fan of Lewis Carroll and Draco is going to be so very insulted if he ever gets to see Willy Wonka.

Divination was frankly everything Ron had thought it was going to be with one little difference, Hermione. Her mounting distate for the subject, and an equil dislike for her from the Teacher, was a bit of a surprise for him. It should not have been, he knew well enough going into it that Divination is a subject that you can't fully learn form books and logic and that it all required talents...or a good ability to lie. He was really starting to worry for his friend, and maybe the teacher, when things suddenly went strange...again.

"I don't think it looks like a Grim." Hermione said flatly. 

She was, at least Ron thought, drawing on the worst of swottiness from first year.

Professor Trelawney opened her mouth to likely say something cutting or snide when she suddenly started to sing.

~One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small, And the ones that mother gives you, don't do anything at all.~

There was only a monetary flash of surprise on the Professor's face before she managed to school her features.

Hermione looked almost smug as she opened her mouth likely to ask the Professor if she saw that coming, instead singing in an almost sarcastic tone, ~Go ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall.~

Lavender Brown suddenly broke out into song as well adding in, ~And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you're going to fall, Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call.~

Only for Hermione to respond with, ~And call Alice, when she was just small.~

Oddly it was Nevil that broke in next singing, ~When the men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go, And you've just had some kind of mushroom, and your mind is moving low.~

~Go ask Alice, I think she'll know.~

 

~When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead~  
~And the white knight is talking backwards~  
~And the red queen's off with her head~  
~Remember what the dormouse said~  
~Feed your head, feed your head~

The song ended with Professor Trelawny falling back into her over stuffed chair at the center of the room looking equal parts shaken and glaring at Hermione. "I think we will leave the lesson here for today," said Professor Trelawney in her mistiest voice. "Yes...please pack away your things..."

As Ron slipped out of the room at last he heard the Professor once more speak in a tiny almost disbelieving voice. "Did...that really happen?"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It wasn't fair! Not at all. Bloody Potter got everything. He had fame, he was everyone's golden boy, he got to be friends with anyone he wanted not stuck with two brain dead lumps of muscle and a bunch of people that would use any weakness as a weapon against his family. He got to be on his house quidditch team in first year, and got to have a top of the line broom! He even got to be a parselmouth and everyone still loved him! Worse, he humiliated him at every turn from refusing his hand on the Hogwarts Express the first year all the way up to being the soul focus of what everyone wanted to talk about since he had Divination! And now, now he got to fly on a Hippogriff!

Draco knew he was not even taking Care of Magical Creatures cause he liked it. No, not Potter. He was just taking the class to show Draco up, he was sure of it. Draco was the one that actually cared about Creatures, no matter what he said in front of others. He would never be allowed to be a Dragon Tamer, even if that is what he wanted to do with his life since before he could walk, Father would never allow it. He could at least breed magic creatures, at least the regal ones that would be fitting for a well placed young noble like him to be seen breeding.

Father had his whole life planned out for him. He had prepared Draco to be exactly what he wanted from the day he was born and...and he wanted something of his own and now Potter was showing him up in the one class that he wanted to take that his parents had not chosen for him. It was not fair! He studied, he prepared, he had even buttered up old Kettleburn last year asking about things and the damned teacher went and retired leaving the class to be taught by that oaf! Draco wanted something for himself he could have, and be best at. Was it too much to ask for? He wanted...he wanted...

~I want a feast!~

Everyone was looking at him now as if he had grown a second head. For a second Draco was unsure what happened till his mouth started moving again without his control.

~I want a bean feast!~

~Cream buns and doughnuts and fruitcake with no nuts so good you could go nuts. No, now!~

Nearly everyone in the class was looking at him now at least, and not at Potter on his mangy threadbare looking magnificent stupid hippogriff.

~I want a ball~  
~I want a party~

Draco found himself moving out from the center of all the students with the other Slytherins staring to flank him in a flying V shape humming along to the music filling the open air paddock.

~Pink macaroons and a million balloons and performing baboons, Give it to me, now!~

Amongst the others not joining in the dance that Draco was starting to lead were most of the Gryffindors, the Mudbloods amongst them starting to snicker about something amongst themselves about something and making Draco feel angrier and angrier as he kept singing.

~I want the world,~  
~I want the whole world.~  
~I want to lock it all up in my pocket~  
~It's my bar of chocolate~  
~Give it to me now! ~

Now the Mudbloods really were laughing at him, he could tell. He couldn't hear most of what they were saying but he could make out a few words. Why would they be talking about verruca? There is no way he would have a verruca, and certainly not one that they would be able to see!

~I want today, I want tomorrow, I want to wear them like braids in my hair and I don't want to share 'em'~

~I want a party with roomfuls of laughter, Ten thousand tons of ice cream,~

Even as the song went on the Gryffendores, including the snickering mudbloods, started to join in humming along with the music. Some of them were smiling and..acting as if they were joining in because they wanted too instead of because whatever curse had hit the school was forcing them.

~And if I don't get the things I am after, I'm going to scream!~

~I want the works, I want the whole works! Presents and prizes and sweets and surprises in all shapes and sizes, And now!~

By the end everyone had ended up paired to Hippogriffs bowing to them all in unison and waiting as the animals bowed back with a perfect choreography.

~I don't care how I want it now! I don't care how I want it now!~

Draco of course made it to the end facing the same bloody creature that had let Potter fly on it. His own distaste for the Gryffindor making his face screw up in a scowl at the creature looking at him with a haughty interest that could give his Father a run for his money waiting to see what he would do.

"And what are you looking at you flea bitten bloody feathered horse?"


	5. François-Marie Arouet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I think this is the longest single song I have written into this fic yet, and I even skipped parts of it. 
> 
> If you get the meaning of this chapter title without googling and before the music starts you get a cookie.
> 
> This section has a whole lot of character study, and while some people might think so I don't consider it bashing cause it honestly is very in character with how I read Snape.

It was the little dunderhead's own fault. He knew that hippogryphs were dangerous animals. He knew that he should not insult them. The little monster was even in tears over the damned thing's eventual fate when he had come to him after Madam Pomfrey healed him, demanding he help find a way to save the wretched beast without him loosing face.

Bah. As if he had any reason to help him. He got himself into this mess. Thinking that being named Godfather to the brat the way he was would give him any reason to help, or even like the over pampored little pest. It was a move on his father's part to keep Seaverus under his thumb, and they all knew it...or at least he had thought the child knew it. He had used the fact to his advantage in making him tutor him in potions before starting school and to get away with sabotaging the potions made by Potter's little horror. But apparently he, and Seaverus had to shudder at the thought, thought that he actually cared for him.

Lucius and Narcissa were nowhere near as the thrice damned Marauders but it is not like they had done anything but make his own school days a terror. Frankly, and inside of his own mind where not even his two masters master Legimins that they are could see, Seaverus Snape admitted he hated children. He hated adults too. Frankly, there was only one human who ever lived he cared for at all and despite the emotion he was assured was actual love he felt for her he even hated Lilly Potter as well. A single moment of anger was all it took to drive her from a life time friendship and into the arms of the man that had made it his life's mission to torture him, and because of that for all he would admit he was obsessed with her and wanted to possess her he still would hate her forever as well.

"Deal with it." He had drawled out to Draco with his best sneer while looking the blubbering boy in the face. "It will die because of your own actions. The only way for it to live is if that know it all little bint were to give Hagrid what he needed to win his appeal...and then she would be showing the world your and your father's weakness over the whole affair once more. You have a choice to make, your own position as top of the heap in Slytherin or the life of an animal."

Sure there are ways he could have saved the creature. A true Slytherin would have seen that. All he had to do was be magnanimous, request the beast be given over to them for propper training. Hell, with the idea in place his father could end up with half the school's herd and Hagrid's job as well if they spun the whole thing to blame his training and care instead of the beast its self. If the boy was too stupid and spoiled to see that, why should he help him?

He had made all the right placating noises and gestures after that, while managing to leave the boy feeling worse and putting on a mask that would make him even more an embarrassment in front of the whole school and place cracks in all the little alliances he was trying to craft himself among his peers. Heh, and of course he and his father would still think that Seaverus was 'Looking out' for the little cretin.

The next day in class he got to see the new mask Draco bore for himself. Playing the injured innocent so badly he was surprised any of the teachers let him make it past breakfast still wearing that ridiculous sling. Watching the damned useless creatures around him made him think back on his time as a teacher. His first classes were filled with siblings and cousins to the people that made his formative years hell, and now slowly those are replaced with thier children. Oh how he hated them. There were exceptions, like Lovegood so much like her mother one of the few people he could ever tolerate or even simply not hate, but for the most part they drove a spike of pure cold loathing through him. Even...no especially the Slytherins.

It amazed him that they looked up too and of all things trusted, so much as a Slytherin could trust anyone, him. It was as if their parents had forgotten the hell they put him through for committing the two great sins of being both poor and a mudblood. One would think that knowing their history if their parents loved them they would warn them that he had good reason to hate them as much, if not more, than anyone else in the school bare the Marauder's. 

He favored them, or at least made it look like he did, in public. In private, where only other Slytherins would see he terrorized them as much as he could to the point he was surprised that Longbottom was the only child so far that had him for a boggart. Perhaps it was something that they managed to focus on other fears enough to hide how badly he treated them from even themselves. Was it possible that many of them came from homes where even him at his worst could not be the darkest boogieman that they faced. That, or they actually thought he did it to make them better stronger Slytherins and did not see how he made sure to sabotage any chances for friendship or trust amongst them now or later in life and...might be grateful for it. Gods, all of them were depressing thoughts.

Blast, the little blond git was going to start a fight in the middle of class if he kept that up! Sure Seaverus kept up the appearance of favoring 'His snakes' in public to make sure that all of the other teachers overcompensated to the point of them ending up isolated form the other houses and often in worse shape than he ever treated the Gryffindors but there was a level even he had to stop from sinking too.

"Weasley, stop messing about in class. If you have enough time while brewing to taunt an injured student you may as well help. Cut up his roots for him." There, that should put of the inevitable fight till it was away form his jurisdiction...and likely make it that much worse for both of them. Hmm, to add fuel to the fire or not? "Potter, since you are in on it as well you might as well skin his shrivelfig as well as your own. And you will not dare to waste good ingredients by doing a poor job...either of you."

He swung from the three of the five worst pains he had taught since that damned clumsy metamorphmagus had dumped an entire cauldron of the most amazingly horrible puss like green goo he had ever seen brewed my tripping over her own feet on the room form him and the magnificently failed potion. Speaking of failed potions, he caught theconditions of the potion being brewed by his all time favorite target. Unlike Potter the sniveling Longbottom heir completely fell apart without him ever having to raise his voice, and the only thing close to having a backbone or defiance he showed was in his continuing to come back to class and being the only student he has ever had to make it to third year without skipping or even being late to a single class.

After a good emotionally cleansing time berating the little snot and threatening to kill his useless toad with the silly name with whatever concoction he managed to turn in Seaverus was on his way back to the front of the class when he heard the whisper of a child that went so far to avoid being called on that even he could not remember his name as he asked himself why he had to be such a bastard.

The sudden violin solo started as he heard the question almost had him smiling as he spun on the class to pin it on someone to punish. Evil smile in place he instead started to sing. 

~When the Devil is too busy, And death's a bit too much, They call on me by name, you see, for my special touch~

It was nothing like the Imperious curse. No, there was no pleasant sensation or desire to do what he is told. That said, he could feel something of a glee as he starts to move among his students. 

~To the gentlemen, I'm Miss Fortune, To the ladies, I'm Sir Prize, But call me by any name, Anyway, it's all the same~

His students were continuing their work, almost as if they did not hear or see him but, at the some time he could seem them shudder as he slammed his hands on his desk. With a grin, almost but not quite knowing what would be next he decided to try and see if he could influence his actions as he sings. 

~I'm the fly in your soup, I'm the pebble in your shoe, I'm the pea beneath your bed, I'm a bump on every head, I'm the peel on which you slip, I'm a pin in every hip, I'm the thorn in your side, Makes you wriggle and writhe.~

It was almost fun watching the children shiver in fear as he leaned in with each line using the very drawn and tones in which he gives his speech to first year students in their very first class with him ever. It was also interesting watching them all brew thier shrinking solutions perfectly. All of them acting in sync, every move exact and at the same time. For the first time ever he thinks he will likely have perfect potions out of every single student.

~And it's so easy when you're evil, This is the life, you see, The Devil tips his hat to me, I do it all because I'm evil, And I do it all for free, Your tears are all the pay I'll ever need!~

Seaverus was, for the first time since he actually played with Lilly Evans as a child, having...fun. The best part, unlike the other songs he had heard about happening this one seemed to be fairly long. Even better to drive home the point of it. Even now he could see the look that Albus bloody too many names Dumbledore would give him over it, and exactly what he would say. The song, it was just over the top enough to claim it was obvious it was about the perception of him not how he felt. It was a parody of what was said about him that showed how out of control those rumors about him were. Yes, it was something that the old fool would buy, he would want to believe it after all. While he sang on, being wholly honest for the first time in his life with no irony at all he plotted how he would convince the most manipulative of the men that made themselves his master it was all caused by the role that Dumbledore forced him to play to stay a viable spy.

Eventually as the music started to slow and come to what he could feel would be the end Seaverus forced himself to his knees in front of the class, hands clasped and looking at the floor like a penitent man.

It gets so lonely being evil, What I'd do to see a smile, Even for a little while, And no one loves you when you're evil...~

With a flash he looks up, eyes burning with hatred and glee breaking into a smile he knows will send shivers up spines and likely play a part in Longbottom's nightmares for decades to come.

~I'm lying through my teeth! Your tears are all the company I need.~

In almost perfect silence, with students holding their breaths afraid to even breathe as it might catch his attention Seaverus bounces up onto his feet like a man half his age. The sound of his shoes hitting the stone floors rings out in the silence like a gunshot making all of the little bastards jump. With a quick glance at the bottled and labeled potions and the workstations all cleaned while under the thrall of the music he sneered at the fact that any fun had been removed from testing his potion on Longbottom's toad he intoned, "Class Dismissed."

After a second while everyone was still in shock he snapped, "Well, get out!" sending them scurrying away into the halls. He was going to have to make a trip into Muggle London once winter break hit and see if he could find someone that might recognize the song well enough to point him at it's creator. Whomever they were he was sure he would enjoy more of their work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really do hate Snape. Even if you excuse how he treats Harry in canon with the BS about his spying and his feelings towards James, and no it is not a valid excuse in the slightest someone with actual cunning would be able to keep the necessary distance in case Moldyfarts returned without being a cliche villain, you can't excuse how he treated everyone else including the stories about the near decade of teaching he did before Harry came to the school.
> 
> Next chapter, another longer one and this one from multiple POVs! Set the night after the Hufflepuff supporting Dementors while Harry sleeps in the hospital. Anyone that guesses any of the small group of singers or the song before I post in a day or two gets a free trip to Kansas...or the ability to request a song to throw in somewhere. Whichever is not going to cost me any money.


	6. This isn't Kansas anymore Toto

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place after the Huffelpuff supporting Dementors ruin a perfectly good game.

He hated himself. He wanted to be there when Harry woke up but...he could not bring himself to even enter the medical wing. He was fighting between the instincts to go comfort his cub and to stay away because there is no way that Harry would really want to be near him knowing what he was.

When his cub had actually come too Remus fled from where he was lurking out if sight near the doors. He was fine, he would be ok, and he did not need some threadbare flea bitten old man hanging around him. 

Later when the guilt over just how much of Harry's life he had missed, mostly at Professor Dumbledore's request, was at its worst he returned. He had been paying attention since the year started, watching Harry in ways he realized the other professors did not. He could see him flinch at loud noises, freeze whenever anyone touched him, the way he was so small and thin and near the full moon he could smell his emotions on him. It all added up to a picture he could not believe. There is no way Jame and Lilly's son could be...but all the evidence was there. Was it true? Had Dumbledore missed it? Or did know and lie to him all those years when he told him Harry was happy and loved? He had to know.

It was late, late enough even Poppy had already gone to bed. He had all but talked himself out of it and yet still found himself sneaking into the hospital wing planning to break into Harry's records to see what they said, if there was any proof. It was a violation of trust and he had no right but...he had to see and know.

He was already halfway across the room when he sensed movement. He spun quickly with an excuse on his lips when he realized that it was Harry turning over in his sleep. There at the base of his bed was a pile of splinters and wood bits that had to be his lost and lamented broom. Something about how he curled up on himself that way broke something in his heart. The boy was the first and only child of the Marauders, they had all loved him as their own child, his little cub...

~Carry on my wayward son, There'll be peace when you are done, Lay your weary head to rest, Don't you cry no more~

He had heard about the random bouts of music plaguing the school, but this was the first experience he had with it since the start of year feast and then he had not been taken over. He recognized the music at least, he remembered all four of the Marauders sitting in Lilly's little apartment listening to her LP of the song. Listening to the musical interlude that rather surprisingly had not woken anyone up yet he found himself moving forwards reaching out and smoothing over a lock of hair that had fallen into Harry's face as he slept.

~Once I rose above the noise and confusion, Just to get a glimpse beyond this illusion, I was soaring ever higher, but I flew too high.~

Eyes moist with unshed tears he could only realize just how right those words were. There was a time he saw more light than dark, more hope than despair, with his friends with his....with Sirus and a future he knew would never really be his but that they kept insisting that after the war could be.

~Though my eyes could see I still was a blind man, Though my mind could think I still was a mad man, I hear the voices when I'm dreaming, I can hear them say...~

He couldn't do what he had planned. No. He had to do this right. He was going to Dumbledore and speak his mind to him, tell him what he suspected. He was not going to let his emotions blind him, or Albus about this.

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He was confused when it first started. He had been sleeping as a dog again. It helped keep the bad dreams away but, the longer he did it the harder it was to focus and think like a person sometimes. He was afraid at first, the music could mean he was found but...no one was around and no one ever came to the Shrieking Shack.

As his mind starting catching up again he remembered what happened to Harry on Privet Drive and what he had heard about music happening around the school. He had transformed back into himself as the refrain came around the second time and found himself with both hands pressed against a wall and madness dancing in his eyes and mind singing.

~Carry on my wayward son, There'll be peace when you are done, Lay your weary head to rest, Don't you cry no more!~

It was a sign. Was it a sign? What he heard and saw and smelt at Privet Drive drove him almost to madness as much as his time with the Dementors and that was before his heart broke watching his little pup sing ..that song. Now he was stuck in a song enough like it but from his own time. Was it telling him to go on with his plans?

~Masquerading as a man with a reason, My charade is the event of the season, And if I claim to be a wise man, Well, it surely means that I don't know.~

Damned if the words were not true enough for him. All reason had left him when he had lost The Rat, and his escape was certainly the talk of the news in both the Wizarding and Muggle worlds for months and would likely be so till he was caught and Kissed...but that he would not let happen till after he had carved out James and Lilly's revenge.

~On a stormy sea of moving emotion, Tossed about, I'm like a ship on the ocean, I set a course for winds of fortune, But I hear the voices say~

Grabbing a knife he had prepared to skin the traitor alive with earlier he stalked towards the secret passageway. Oh yes, you can control yourself! You just have to feed into the music not fight it! Haha! He knew it warped time and space in some way and...if he kept at it he might be able to get passed the Fat Lady this time and get to the bastard by using the song...  
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He was in the worse danger he had been in for years! When the first of the little red headed terrors had brought him along to Hogwarts he had thought he was done for, but the wards let him pass and no one ever noticed. He was sure being marked and all he would be held out but...obviously Dumbledore never added protections against hte Dark Mark. He never intended anyone at the school harm so, year after year he was carried in.

The Elves always did seem to like him, even as a rat they let him have sweets and snacks only now they left them in a little bowl near the entrance no one ever saw. He was clean and he kept even the other pet rats away. His life was good. He knew all this time changed would leave him...even less attractive than he had been before, but it was worth it. He was safe, and fed, and knew all the news and gossip.

Then He broke out. Damn, damn, damn. He would recognize him if he saw him, or even smelt him on Ron. He had to know, there was no other reason for him to come to Hogwarts except he found out that he was here! He had been trying to escape for days but that damned cat kept showing up. He couldn't get away as a rat, and if he became himself he might get seen!

It was a chance he had to take, slipping out of the dorms and into the common room while everyone was asleep he shifted to human form just so he could get past the damned cat as the music he had been hearing hit him. He thought it was a radio left on at first...till he found himself pulled to stare out the window.

~Carry on my wayward son, There'll be peace when you are done, Lay your weary head to rest, Don't you cry no more no!~

NO! No no no, not now! If anyone hears this and comes to investigate his goose was cooked! And damn, the cat is right there watching him, he can't be a rat again and get out of the room!

~Carry on, You will always remember, Carry on, Nothing equals the splendor, Now your life's no longer empty, Surely heaven waits for you...~

And it had to be that song too damn it! It reminded him of everything he had, and everything he threw away because there was no way to fight the Dark Lord! How was he to know that the madman would finally die so easy? He had to do it to make it out alive, he had too!  
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In the infirmary of Hogwarts a 13 year old child turned over in his sleep. He was alone again, like he was all his life, but this time as the nightmares started he...was not. He was not awake, or else he would be confused by the sudden feeling like he was not alone anymore. 

If there had been anyone else in the room they would have heard it. The soft strings of music still played from where Remus Lupin had been there earlier until a new voice chimed in from nowhere.

~Carry on my wayward son, There'll be peace when you are done,~

It was a male voice, one that a number of the castle's residents would likely recognize even more than a decade after he was last there. The voice was quickly enough joined by an equally familiar female one.

~Lay your weary head to rest, Don't you cry, Don't you cry no more,~

As the music faded so too did the voices, leaving behind a boy who would have the most restful sleep he had in a long while whispering to himself in his sleep. 

~No more!~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I admit, I kinda teared up writing this. I also had a long debate on Peter's part if I wanted to go serious or silly with it. In the end, I did both and am posting the silly part separately.


	7. Hiatus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things have happened in my life and it is likely I shall not ever finish anything I have started story wise. I will be offline for a very long time so unlikely to answer or respond to comments but if anyone wants to use an idea in any of my unfinished works, or wants to try and pick them up from where I have left off and rewrite and or finish them then they are welcome to do so.

Things have happened in my life and it is likely I shall not ever finish anything I have started story wise. I will be offline for a very long time so unlikely to answer or respond to comments but if anyone wants to use an idea in any of my unfinished works, or wants to try and pick them up from where I have left off and rewrite and or finish them then they are welcome to do so.


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